Multi-Atlas Segmentation of the Facial Nerve

Medical image segmentation is an important step to identify the shape and position of patient anatomy prior to surgical simulation, surgical rehearsal, and surgical planning. It is crucial that the facial nerve (FN) is segmented accurately as damage to this nerve can severely impact facial expression, speech, and taste. Manual segmentation provides accurate results but is time-consuming and labor-intensive; semi-automatic methods of segmentation are more feasible in a clinical setting and can provide accurate results with minimal user involvement. The objective of this work was to create a novel, open-source, multi-atlas based segmentation algorithm of the entire FN requiring minimal user intervention. Twenty-eight temporal bones were segmented producing an average Dice metric of 0.76 and an average Hausdorff distance of 0.17 mm which is similar to previously published algorithms. These results indicate that this segmentation approach can accurately segment the FN and greatly reduce time spent with manual segmentation

Creating the Future

“Creating the future” is a notion introduced by Alfred North Whitehead to define the task of universities and the function of philosophy. Implicitly, it is a rejection of the idea that the future is already determined, and in some sense, already exists, with the appearance of temporal becoming an illusion. “Creation” originally meant “the action of causing to exist”, or “a coming into being”. The “future” is not normally considered to be what can be created. Originally, it meant “yet to be”. It now tends to be defined in relation to time, as “the time to come”, where “time” is assumed to be an independent existent along with space as the “containers” of material beings, with the future in some sense pre-existing its becoming present. The quantity of “matter” or “mass-energy” is assumed to be constant and to change its position and configurations in predictable ways over time. To refer to the future as being created is to reject this view of the universe and the basic concepts that define it, replacing these with concepts that can make intelligible the freedom of and creativity of people, the future as in process of being created, and humans as partially responsible for what future is created. It is to recognize that there are real possibilities that can be envisioned, understood, chosen, and brought into existence, with some process philosophers claiming that new possibilities can also be created

SISTEM PEMIDANAAN DALAM PENYERTAAN TINDAK PIDANA MENURUT KUHP

This study discusses the participation (deelneming) which includes all forms of participation/involvement of people both psychologically and physically by doing each act so as to give birth to a crime. Participation is regulated in Article 55 and Article 56 of the Criminal Code which means that there are two or more people who commit a crime or say that there are two or more people taking part in realizing a crime can be mentioned that a person participates in relation to the person other. This research is a type of normative research using secondary legal material sources and using qualitative descriptive analysis. The results of this study indicate that the forms of participation can be divided into two, namely first, the maker which consists of: Actors (pleger), the enforcer (doenpleger), who participates (madepleger) and penganjur (uitlokker). Second, the Assistant consists of: Helper at the time the crime was committed and the Helper before the crime was committed. While the criminal system for the inclusion of criminal acts is as follows. The first system originated in roman and second, a system originating from Italian parajurists in medieval times.Keywords: crime; criminal code; inclusion.Penelitian ini membahas tentang penyertaan (Deelneming) yang meliputi semua bentuk turut serta/terlibatnya orang-orang baik secara psikis maupun fisik dengan melakukan masing-masing perbuatan sehingga melahirkan suatu tindak pidana. Penyertaan di atur dalam Pasal 55 dan Pasal 56 KUHP yang berarti bahwa ada dua orang atau lebih yang melakukan suatu tindak pidana atau dengan perkataan ada dua orang atau lebih mengambil bagian untuk mewujudkan suatu tindak pidana dapat di sebutkan bahwa seseorang tersebut turut serta dalam hubungannya dengan orang lain. Penelitian ini merupakan jenis penelitian normatif dengan menggunakan sumber bahan hukum sekunder serta menggunakan analisis deskriptif kualitatif. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa bentuk-bentuk penyertaan dapat dibagi menjadi dua yaitu pertama, Pembuat yang terdiri dari: Pelaku (pleger), yang menyuruhlakukan (doenpleger), yang turut serta (madepleger) dan penganjur (uitlokker); kedua, Pembantu yang terdiri dari: Pembantu pada saat kejahatan dilakukan dan Pembantu sebelum kejahatan dilakukan. Sedangkan sistem pemidanaan terhadap penyertaan tindak pidana adalah sebagai berikut, Pertama Sistem yang berasal dari romawi dan kedua, Sistem yang berasal dariparajurist italia dalam abad pertengahan.Kata kunci: KUHP; penyertaan; tindak pidana

Changes in Corporate Debt Ratings and Stock Liquidity: Evidence from the Spanish Market*

This study examines the existing relationship between announcements of debt rating changes for companies listed on the Spanish stock exchange and the liquidity of their stocks for the period of 2000 to 2010. Liquidity around the announcement day is analyzed using different liquidity measures proposed by the equity market literature. The study also examines the factors that determine the intensity of the announcement's effect on liquidity. The evidence shows that both positive and negative announcements (of improvement and decline in credit rating) lead to an increase in liquidity, which is anticipated by the market in both cases. Regarding the factors that determine intensity, it is observed that investors combine the information included in the announcement with the characteristics of the issuing company. Still, the recent economic and financial crisis, in which the role of the rating agencies has been greatly questioned, has not changed the intensity of these effects on liquidity

Knowledge management infrastructure to support quality improvement: A qualitative study of maternity services in four European hospitals

The influence of multilevel healthcare system interactions on clinical quality improvement (QI) is still largely unexplored. Through the lens of knowledge management (KM) theory, this study explores how hospital managers can enhance the conditions for clinical QI given the specific multilevel and professional interactions in various healthcare systems. The research used an in-depth multilevel analysis in maternity departments in four purposively sampled European hospitals (Portugal, England, Norway and Sweden). The study combines analysis of macro-level policy documents and regulations with semi-structured interviews (96) and non-participant observations (193 hours) of hospital and clinical managers and clinical staff in maternity departments. There are four main conclusions: First, the unique multilevel configuration of national healthcare policy, hospital management and clinical professionals influence the development of clinical QI efforts. Second, these different configurations provide various and often insufficient support and guidance which affect professionals’ action strategies in QI efforts. Third, hospital managers’ opportunities and capabilities for developing a consistent KM infrastructure with reinforcing enabling conditions which merge national policies and guidelines with clinical reality is crucial for clinical QI. Fourth, understanding these interrelationships provides an opportunity for improvement of the KM infrastructure for hospital managers through tailored interventions

Speculation

‘Speculation’ originally meant ‘reflective observation’. It came to mean ‘conjecture’ or ‘mere conjecture’ as philosophers strove for certainty, consecrating science as rigorously acquired knowledge accumulated through application of the scientific method and devalued the cognitive status of other discourses. The present conventional meaning of speculation, where the place of observation has disappeared, is a by-product of this consecration. In this entry I show how through efforts to defend the status of these other discourses, the original meaning of ‘speculation’ was not only revived but built upon by speculative philosophers. They showed that speculation is primordial to all experience and thinking, with past speculations embodied in language as ‘dead’ metaphors. Revealing the possibility of elaborating alternative metaphors frees us not only from these dead metaphors to overcome the dead-ends of current science, opening up new possibilities for enquiry, but the possibility of reconceiving ourselves and our place in nature. In this way, speculation makes it possible to transform ourselves, creating radically new ways of living and new forms of life. On this view, speculation, by opening new possibilities, could free us from the destructive trajectories of current civilization

The magnitude and timing of recalled immunity after breakthrough infection is shaped by SARS-CoV-2 variants

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 protects from infection and improves clinical outcomes in breakthrough infections, likely reflecting residual vaccine-elicited immunity and recall of immunological memory. Here, we define the early kinetics of spike-specific humoral and cellular immunity after vaccination of seropositive individuals and after Delta or Omicron breakthrough infection in vaccinated individuals. Early longitudinal sampling revealed the timing and magnitude of recall, with the phenotypic activation of B cells preceding an increase in neutralizing antibody titers. While vaccination of seropositive individuals resulted in robust recall of humoral and T cell immunity, recall of vaccine-elicited responses was delayed and variable in magnitude during breakthrough infections and depended on the infecting variant of concern. While the delayed kinetics of immune recall provides a potential mechanism for the lack of early control of viral replication, the recall of antibodies coincided with viral clearance and likely underpins the protective effects of vaccination against severe COVID-19

Application of Respondent Driven Sampling to Collect Baseline Data on FSWs and MSM for HIV Risk Reduction Interventions in Two Urban Centres in Papua New Guinea

The need to obtain unbiased information among hard–to-reach and hidden populations for behavioural and biological surveillance, epidemiological studies, and intervention program evaluations has led researchers to search for a suitable sampling method. One method that has been tested among IDU and MSM recently is respondent-driven sampling (RDS). We used RDS to conduct a behavioural survey among FSWs and MSM in two urban centres in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In this paper we present the lessons learned implementing RDS in a developing country setting. We also present comparisons of RDSAT-adjusted versus unadjusted crude estimates of some key socio-demographic indicators as well as comparisons between the estimates from RDS and a hypothetical time–location sample (TLS). Overall, the use of RDS among the MSM and FSWs in PNG had numerous advantages in terms of collecting a required sample size in a short time period, minimizing costs and maximising security for staff and respondents. Although there were a few problems these were easily remedied and we would recommend RDS for other similar studies in PNG and other developing countries

Analytic philosophy for biomedical research: the imperative of applying yesterday's timeless messages to today's impasses

The mantra that "the best way to predict the future is to invent it" (attributed to the computer scientist Alan Kay) exemplifies some of the expectations from the technical and innovative sides of biomedical research at present. However, for technical advancements to make real impacts both on patient health and genuine scientific understanding, quite a number of lingering challenges facing the entire spectrum from protein biology all the way to randomized controlled trials should start to be overcome. The proposal in this chapter is that philosophy is essential in this process. By reviewing select examples from the history of science and philosophy, disciplines which were indistinguishable until the mid-nineteenth century, I argue that progress toward the many impasses in biomedicine can be achieved by emphasizing theoretical work (in the true sense of the word 'theory') as a vital foundation for experimental biology. Furthermore, a philosophical biology program that could provide a framework for theoretical investigations is outlined

Gaia Data Release 2: Calibration and mitigation of electronic offset effects in the data

The European Space Agency Gaia satellite was launched into orbit around L2 in December 2013. This ambitious mission has strict requirements on residual systematic errors resulting from instrumental corrections in order to meet a design goal of sub-10 microarcsecond astrometry. During the design and build phase of the science instruments, various critical calibrations were studied in detail to ensure that this goal could be met in orbit. In particular, it was determined that the video-chain offsets on the analogue side of the analogue-to-digital conversion electronics exhibited instabilities that could not be mitigated fully by modifications to the flight hardware. We provide a detailed description of the behaviour of the electronic offset levels on microsecond timescales, identifying various systematic effects that are known collectively as offset non-uniformities. The effects manifest themselves as transient perturbations on the gross zero-point electronic offset level that is routinely monitored as part of the overall calibration process. Using in-orbit special calibration sequences along with simple parametric models, we show how the effects can be calibrated, and how these calibrations are applied to the science data. While the calibration part of the process is relatively straightforward, the application of the calibrations during science data processing requires a detailed on-ground reconstruction of the readout timing of each charge-coupled device (CCD) sample on each device in order to predict correctly the highly time-dependent nature of the corrections. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our offset non-uniformity models in mitigating the effects in Gaia data. We demonstrate for all CCDs and operating instrument and modes on board Gaia that the video-chain noise-limited performance is recovered in the vast majority of science samples